headscalevsNightingale
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| headscale | Nightingale | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 58/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 31 in Networking | #15 of 54 in Media Streaming |
| GitHub stars | 45 160 | 1 522 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 053 | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 9 |
| Latest release | v0.29.6 · 24 Oct 2026 | v1.3.0 · 15 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Go | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
headscale scores 82/100 against 58/100 for Nightingale, so it is the safer default.
Nightingale ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for headscale.
If you want the quickest setup, headscale is easier to run; Nightingale needs more configuration.
headscale is growing faster right now (+1 053 stars in 30 days).
headscale details →Nightingale details →